Chapter 2

IoT Design Methodology

Book website: http://www.internet-of-things-book.com Bahga & Madisetti, © 2015

 Outline

• IoT Design Methodology that includes:

• Purpose & Requirements Specification
• Process Specification
• Domain Model Specification
• Information Model Specification
• Service Specifications
• IoT Level Specification
• Functional View Specification
• Operational View Specification
• Device & Component Integration
• Application Development

Book website: http://www.internet-of-things-book.com Bahga & Madisetti, © 2015

IoT Design Methodology - Steps
 Step 1: Purpose & Requirements Specification

• The first step in IoT system design methodology is to define the purpose and
requirements of the system.
• In this step, the system
- Purpose
- Behaviour
- Requirements
• Data Collection requirements
• Data Analysis requirements
• System Management requirements
• Data Privacy and Security requirements
• User Interface requirements are captured
 Example: Purpose & Requirements (Smart Home Automation System)

• Purpose :
A home automation system that allows controlling of the lights in a home remotely using a web
application.

• Behavior :
The home automation system should have auto and manual modes.
- In auto mode, the system measures the light level in the room and switches ON the light when it gets dark.
- In manual mode, the system provides the option of manually and remotely switching ON/OFF the light.

• System Management Requirement :

The system should provide remote monitoring and control functions.

• Data Analysis Requirement :

The system should perform local analysis of the data.

• Application Deployment Requirement :

The application should be deployed locally on the device, but should be accessible remotely.

• Security Requirement : The system should have basic user authentication capability.
 Step 2: Process Specification
• In this step, the use cases of the IoT system are formally described based on and derived from the purpose
and requirement specifications.

The process diagram show the two modes of system : auto and manual

In the process diagram:

Circle-start of the process
Diamond – decision box
Rectangle – a state or attribute
 Step 3: Domain Model Specification

• The domain model describes the main concepts, entities and objects in the domain of IoT system to be designed.
• Domain model defines the attributes of the objects and relationships between objects.
• Domain model provides an abstract representation of the concepts, objects and entities in the IoT domain, independent
of any specific technology or platform.
• With the domain model, the IoT system designers can get an understanding of the IoT domain for which the system is to
be designed.
Physical Entity:
• It is a discrete and identifiable entity in the physical environment (e.g. A room, a light, a appliance, a car, etc.)

• IoT provides information about the physical entity (using sensors) or performs actuation upon the physical entity (switching on a light).

Virtual entity:
• It is representation of the physical entity in the digital world.

• For each physical entity, there is a virtual entity in the domain model.
Device:
• It provides medium for interaction between physical entities and virtual entities.

• They are either attached to physical entities or placed near physical entities.

• They are used to

- Gather information about (using sensors)
- Perform actuation upon (using switches)
- Used to identify (using tags) physical entities.

Resources:
They are software components which are either “on-device” or “network-resources”
On-device
- resource hosted on the device
Network
- resource available in network (database)
 Service:
It provide an interface for interacting with the physical entity.

Three service in home automation:

1. a service that sets auto or manual or retrieves the
current mode.
2. A service that sets the light appliance state is ON/OFF or
retrieves the current light state.
3. Controller services that runs as a native service
on the device
 Step 4: Information Model Specification
• Information Model defines the structure of all the information in the IoT system, for example, attributes of Virtual
Entities, relations, etc.
• Information model does not describe the specifics of how the information is represented or stored.
• To define the information model, we first list the Virtual Entities defined in the Domain Model.
• Information model adds more details to the Virtual Entities by defining their attributes and relations.
 Step 5: Service Specifications

Service specifications define the

• services in the IoT system
• service types
• service inputs/output
• service endpoints
• service schedules
• service preconditions
• service effects
From process specification and information
model, we identify the states and attributes.

For each state and attribute we define a service.

These services either change the state or

attribute values or retrieve the current values.
Mode Service: Controller service:
it is a RESTful web service that It runs as a native service on the device
- Set mode to auto or manual (PUT request)
- Retrieves the current mode (GET request) Auto mode-> it monitor the light level-> it switches the
The mode is updated to/retrieved from the data base light ON/OFF -> updates the status database

Manual mode-> it retrieves the current state fro m

data base and switches the light ON/OFF.

State service:
It is a RESTful web service that
- Light appliance state to ON/OFF (PUT request)
- Retrieves the current light state (Get request)
The state is updated to/retrieved from the status data base
 Step 6: IoT Level Specification
The sixth step in the IoT design methodology is to define the IoT level ( six levels) for the system.
Step 7: Functional View Specification
Step 8: Operational View Specification
Step 9: Device & Component Integration
Step 10: Application Development
• Auto
• Controls the light appliance automatically based on the lighting
conditions in the room
• Light
• When Auto mode is off, it is used for manually controlling the
light appliance.
• When Auto mode is on, it reflects the current state of the light
appliance.